Michael Flinn, 74
Michael de Vlaming Flinn, a lawyer and former member of the Connecticut House of Representatives who grew up on Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton, died on Aug. 1 at his house in Greenwich, Conn. He was 74 and had been ill with colon cancer for 15 months.
“He loved his work,” said his wife, Ann Hanes Flinn of Greenwich and Delray Beach, Fla., whom he married on Valentine’s Day in 1993. “He loved working in finance, he loved his community work and his service with the 149th District.”
The youngest of three boys, Mr. Flinn was born on June 15, 1941, in Durham, N.C., to Lawrence Flinn and the former Marion de Vlaming. His father, who was affiliated with Duke University, was an Army officer during World War II. He was killed in action at the Battle of the Bulge.
He attended Aiken Preparatory School in Aiken, S.C., and the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn., before graduating from Yale, magna cum laude, in 1962. He earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1965.
Mr. Flinn served as a captain in military intelligence, stationed at Fort Benning in Georgia, Fort Holabird in Maryland, and at the Pentagon. “I think he was very proud” of his military service, said his wife. “And he was echoing his father’s career, dedication, and service.”
His legal career began at White & Case in Manhattan. From 1970 to 1996 he was a limited partner at the investment management firm Ingalls and Snyder, and later joined the investment company Spears, Benzak, Salomon, and Farrell. Most recently, he was a managing director at Tocqueville Asset Management, all in Manhattan.
He was elected to Connecticut’s House of Representatives in 1982 and served two terms. His directorships were many, among them the Coldwater Conservation Fund, Greenwood Cemetery, and the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich, which he served for 15 years.
“I think his greatest sporting passion was court tennis,” his wife said, noting that he won one of his first tournaments on the grass courts at the Maidstone Club at age 9. “He was also a low-handicap golfer. He belonged to many clubs, and played golf everywhere up and down the Eastern Seaboard and abroad.” He was also an excellent fisherman, she said. “He pursued all of these things with a great deal of skill and passion, and shared his love of those things with all his children. He taught them how to do all those things, and they’re all good at them.”
He was also “very learned about art, music, poetry, gardens,” she said. “He loved to travel — he was an excellent travel planner.”
Mr. Flinn’s first marriage, to Elizabeth Foulke, ended in divorce. In addition to his wife, he leaves three sons, William, Michael Jr., and Theodore, all of Greenwich, and a daughter, Randall, of Brooklyn. Two stepchildren, Allison Ryan of Pound Ridge, N.Y., and Jonathan Hanes of Old Greenwich, Conn., also survive, as do 12 grandchildren and a brother, Lawrence Flinn Jr. of East Hampton. His other brother, George, died last year.
Funeral services were held on Aug. 7 at Round Hill Community Church in Greenwich, the Rev. Dr. Edward Horstmann officiating. Mr. Flinn was buried in Cedar Lawn Cemetery in East Hampton, near his father.
The family has suggested memorial contributions to the Everglades Foundation, which works to restore clean water to the Florida Everglades and surrounding estuaries, at 18001 Old Cutler Road, Suite 625, Palmetto Bay, Fla. 33157, or evergladesfoundation.org.